If you’re interested in starting a backyard vegetable garden, consider this:
The health benefits will go beyond what you pull out of the ground. They’ll also come from what you put into it.
Exercise in your yard
Working in the yard can be a rewarding, time-efficient means of getting an effective workout, with benefits from strength training and aerobics to flexibility and endurance.
“Gardening can be a fun physical activity that provides great-tasting produce, as well as reducing your grocery expenses,” said Myra Rasche, a St. Elizabeth Healthcare dietitian and avid gardener.
Think about it: You’re bending, you’re stretching. You’re shoveling or moving heavy loads of dirt. You’re pulling weeds, nature’s resistance-training apparatus.
How much can gardening really help?
According to Jeffrey P. Restuccio, author of “Get Fit through Gardening,” a 180-pound man can burn 162 calories in 30 minutes of planting seedlings. Weeding can burn 182 calories in that time span.
But as with other workouts, it’s important to remember to warm up beforehand and maintain proper technique and practices throughout.
- Stretch for five to ten minutes before gardening and stretch again during breaks
- Remember to bend your knees, not your back, particularly when dealing with heavy objects
- Stay hydrated. Push fluids before gardening and replenish throughout, Rasche said, and try to avoid heavy work outdoors when the sun is at its hottest
“It’s best to garden in the early morning or in the evening,” she said.
Practice safe gardening techniques
Restuccio’s advice: Vary the pace of your gardening workout the way you would any other workout, with a warm-up, exercise at a more intense rate and a cool-down. Also, mix up your stances and the motions you use to work different muscles and alleviate soreness or injuries associated with repetitive motions.
And remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day; nor was it completely seeded, fed, watered and weeded. Space out your garden tasks over a realistic number of days relative to your needs, so you don’t overdo it.
In the end, you might find gardening to be rewarding in a way that other workouts aren’t. “Nothing like homegrown green beans or tomatoes served fresh the same day you pick them,” Rasche said.
